


One-Armed Blur

by DestinedAtMidnight



Category: Midnight Cinderella (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Mention of a Battle, but is anyone surprised?, i just told you just in case it's a trigger for anyone, it's literally just mentioned that's all, like war but it happened don't worry no one dies, mutilation is mentioned but no description!, this is not grotesque in any way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-20 07:37:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14890319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DestinedAtMidnight/pseuds/DestinedAtMidnight
Summary: After a long and tedious battle between two countries, the princess wants nothing more to return to Albert's arms... only, things have changed a bit since they last met.





	One-Armed Blur

Five months. That’s how long the battle between Stein and Protea lasted. Doesn’t sound like long, does it? Wars usually last for years. Nonetheless, both kingdoms had suffered more damage than they ever had in a long time. The countries, and the men who had fought for them.

Who won? Stein of course, but only because of the support they had gained half way through the battle from Wysteria. The two captains had managed to set aside their mutual hatred and worked together to bring Protea to their knees.

Two months after the battle, it was all officially over. King Byron had stayed in Wysteria for the past week and a half to draw up the demands and rules for Protea. Now that they had accepted, both the King and the princess were travelling to Stein. On the way there, the princess seemed impatient as she stared out of the window. Giles and Leo, who were both accompanying her, exchanged glances yet again.

“What’s on your mind, Princess?” Leo finally spoke, watching as she slowly turned her worry-filled eyes to him. For a while, there was silence, save for the sounds of the two carriages riding over the rocky path. Then she spoke, “I’m just anxious, that’s all... King Byron refused to tell me anything about the state of Stein, saying that it would sound worse than it is and that I should just wait to see for myself. So because of that, I’m apprehensive about what I’ll find.”

The two men could help the small smile that formed of their faces. Even though she spoke about Stein, they both knew that there was one thing in particular about Stein that she was actually worried about. “It’s only natural for you to want to know about him,” Giles’ kind eyes rested on her, slightly amused as she immediately shook her head.

“No, no, it’s not just that,” she denied, “I _am_ concerned about the whole of Stein.”

Leo chuckled at the sight of their flustered princess, “we never said you weren’t.”

She sighed, “I haven’t seen him in such a long time, it’s been half a year! I just miss him, that’s all. King Byron literally would not tell me anything. I was so scared that something’s happened to him...”

By the end of the afternoon, they had reached Stein palace. As soon as both parties had exited their carriages, they were greeted by Nico. A bright smile on his now slightly-scarred face, he bounded up to them, giving the princess a big hug. “Princess! You’re here, I’ve missed you!” He spoke with joy in his voice as he released her, placing his hands on her shoulders. She laughed with him, happy to see his smiling face, telling him that she, too, had missed him dearly. Even years ago, when Nico was her butler, just a single look at his face managed to calm her nerves. The same was true even today.

“Hi, Giles, hi, Leo,” Nico spoke to the two men beside her, although his happiness factor had decreased slightly. Both of her companions merely nodded their heads at him, not saying a word. _Ouch_ , she winced slightly as the atmosphere tensing up a bit. Even now, neither Giles nor Leo gave Nico any attention, since they still didn’t trust him from when it was revealed that he was a spy from Stein. Luckily, Nico didn’t mind what they thought and easily smiled at the princess before turning to his king.

“King Byron,” he bowed, before launching into a situational report. “Nothing’s really happened here since you’ve been gone. Since most of the people were completely unharmed, a lot of the work has started up again. The market actually opened up last week. The only thing here is that Albert was finally moved out of the infirmary a few days ago, and today the doctors said that he can go outside for a bit too. He’s with the rest of the knights now.”

“Wait, Albert was in the infirmary for that long?” You couldn’t help speaking up and while Giles tensed at your interruption of their conversation, neither king nor knight minded. In fact, they both smiled knowingly as they turned to face you.

“Well, yeah. I mean after what happened to his arm, I think the doctors probably let him out earlier than they were supposed to because all of his complaining.” Nico chuckled at the thought, but it had no effect of you.

“What do you mean, ‘after what happened to his arm’?”

“You mean you don’t know?” Nico asked, full of surprise. Looking at Byron, the king narrowed his eyes. “I didn’t want to tell her because it’s just like her to get worried. It would be much better if she saw him herself.”

“Can l?” You asked, “may I go and see him?” The ruler of Stein gave you a look, ‘of course you can,’ it said. Turning at Giles, you gazed at him with imploring eyes. Sighing in exasperation, “only for a short while,” he said tersely, but there was a smile on his face.

“Thank you,” you curtsied quickly before picking up your skirts and running in the direction where you knew you would find your love.

\----

“Now that you’ve all had a several weeks to relax and spend time with your families, it’s time to get back to work.” Albert was currently talking with the knights of Stein. He had the chance to be out of bed after what seemed like eternity, and he was more than ready to get back on the playing field.

By then you had reached them and were currently standing at the doorway, catching your breath. A few of the knights had noticed you and shot you quick smiles before looking straight ahead again. You couldn’t help grinning at the sight. Albert had only just been taken off bed arrest and he was already at it. “If I can get up in the morning for training, then so can the rest of you.”

_Wow, he really doesn’t like to give it a rest_ , Albert’s tenacity always amazed you, but you couldn’t help feeling slightly sorry for the knights. As some of the younger knights stared at you with pouts on their faces, you decided to give them a break, and ran head first towards “Albert!”

The captain of the royal knights swivelled around at the sound of your voice, and just in time. Launching yourself at him, you instantly wrapped your arms around his back, burying your face against the buttons of his shirt.

“_____,” he whispered your name in disbelief. After a brief moment of hesitation, you felt an arm encircle your waist and a gentle kiss against your hair. “You’re really here,” his said fondly. Smiling, you nodded, rubbing your cheek against his chest. Opening your eyes slightly, you saw the entire Stein army gazing back at the rare display of kindness from their captain.

Albert noticed your line of sight and he immediately frowned at his men. “That will be all,” he barked harshly- “you are all dismissed” - but there was no mistaking the slight flush on his cheeks. Grinning at each other, the knights looked at you both fondly before quickly making their way. No matter how strict the Stein captain came across, there was no mistaking that you brought out his soft side.

While the hall slowly emptied out, the two of you stayed in embrace... well, half in embrace. You noticed that, even now, only one of his arms were wrapped around you. Sighing softly, you reached your hand out to grab his other arm, _even now, he still prefers to have one hand on his sword_. But as you blindly searched with your hand, you couldn’t made contact with his arm. Peeping one eye open so you could see it, you were met with... nothing. Blinking rapidly, you lifted your head to get a clearer view, confusion taking over you slowly. It was then that you realised that his right sleeve was rolled up to halfway down his upper arm, but his arm wasn’t underneath it.

You looked up at him with questioning eyes but he said nothing, his expression downcast, the arm that was around you tightening slightly. Tentatively, you stretched out your hand out, and placed it on his shoulder. Catching his gaze, he merely nodded, letting you continue. Ever so slowly, you trailed your hand down his arm, meeting his bunched-up sleeve. With his permission, you lifted the piece of clothing up even higher, and a small gasp escaped you.

There, you saw the stump of what was left of his arm covered in bandages. You brushed your fingers against the end of his stump causing him to flinch. “I’m sorry,” you breathed, “does it hurt?” Still refusing to meet your eyes, he shook his head.

“Albert, look at me, please?” You begged him and for a while, he didn’t move. Then, narrowing his eyes, he look right at you, discomfort hidden in their depths. Holding his gaze ran your digits over the bandages again, and you couldn’t help the water that gathered at the bottom of your eyes. “Oh, Albert,” you breathing hitched as a few tears fell down your face. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know.”

At last, he spoke, “please don’t cry, Princess, it’s okay,” he drew you close to his body, stroking you hair ever so gently. Stop crying... you scolded yourself as he continued to hold you dear, eventually managing to force yourself to hold back the remainder of your tears. Pulling back from him, you plastered a smile onto your face, “sorry,” you murmured before reaching out to hold his hand.

Just at the moment, Nico walked into the room. “Heya, Al, Princess,” he called as he walked over to you. Once he did, he grinned and said, “hey Princess, don’t you think it’s ironic, how they managed to chop off Albert’s whole arm, but his glasses are still intact?”

“Nico!” You gasped at his words as you whirled around to face him, eyes wide. How could he say such a thing?

But Albert remained unfazed. In fact, he smirked at his younger brother’s words before retorting. “At least I have a decent battle wound, brat! I mean, just look at that sorry excuse of a scar on your face, it’s barely visible!” And just like that, they entered another squabble.

“Don’t worry about it too much, Princess,” the soft yet regal voice of the king reached you from behind. Stepping up beside you, he studied the scene unfolding before him with a smile. “Neither of them mind the injuries they sustained in the war. In Albert’s case, he didn’t care about loosing his arm at all. What he was distraught over, however, was the thought of being removed as Stein’s army captain. As if I would do such a thing just because he lost his fighting arm.” As the argument got more heated, Byron sighed. “He just wants to be treated like it’s normal, his only problem is that, right now, his fighting ability isn’t strong because he has to start training with his left hand from now on.”

Suddenly, he let out a chuckle, “I still remember the day he woke up in the infirmary, insisting again and again that he needed to get up and start training, despite us telling him numerous times that all the knights had been given leave for a few weeks. We finally learnt, after much coercing, that he didn’t want to train with the knights at all, he merely wanted to get his skills back to perfection, because he didn’t want to be seen as weaker than Wysteria’s captain of the knights.”

You couldn’t help laughing along with King Byron, _that sounds just like him_ , you thought. At the sound of your joint laughter, the two knights before you stopped their quarrel and gawked.

“If you two are finished,” Byron spoke with a hint of amusement in his voice, “maybe you would like to join us for dinner.”

\-----

That night, after silence had enveloped the castle, you sneaked into Albert’s room. In the dark, you made out his shape sitting up on the bed. “Who-?” He whispered confusedly. Walking towards the bed you replied, “it’s just me, Albert.”

You heard him exhale in relief as he pulled back the covers of the bed. “Well what are you still doing over there?” He teased, causing a small bubble of giggles to escape you.

Slipping into his bed, you turned your back to him and pressed yourself lightly against his chest. Instinctively, he wrapped his arm over you, holding you close to him...

Sighing contently, you closed your eyes as you waiting for him, probably taking off his glasses, to curl his other arm under you. It wasn’t until a period of stillness that you jolted with a start as you remembered he couldn’t. Biting down harshly onto your lip in an attempt to carry on keeping the tears at bay. Then a sob escaped you, as the emotions of the day finally caught up with you.

This time, he didn’t stop you. Instead, “it’s okay, _____, it’s just me here,” he comforted you instead, as if you were the one that had lost your arm in a war. Pressing himself impossibly closer to you, it seemed as if he was making up for the loss of his other arm by putting extra strength behind this one. It almost felt like he was crushing you, but at the same time it wasn’t nearly tight enough.

Turning around, your gown twisting around your legs, you fisted his soft shirt with both of your hands as his fingers trailed all over your cheeks, wiping the saltwater gently away.

Albert couldn’t help smiling softly as you sniffed lightly, momentarily comparing you to a cute little bunny. His grin got even wider when you said, “I must look like a mess.”

Your voice broke as you made that comment, leaning back you made eye contact with your lover while he smirked down at you. “I wouldn’t know.”

Another set of giggles left you at his joke, “you may not have your glasses but I’m sure you can still tell.” You stated with a smile, while he simply shook his head defiantly.

“So I’m just an emotional, blurry figure to you right now?”

“The most beautiful blur I’ve ever seen.” Bending down towards you, he rained kisses all over your wet face, completely ignoring your complaints. 

And with that, you snuggled down deeper into the covers, clothes and limbs alike twisted as tightly as possible, as the bright darkness enveloped you both.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Please, please do let me know if there's anything I can do to improve, I'm always looing for ways to improve~
> 
> \- Widzz (feel free to visit my on my Tumblr @destinedatmidnight, I'm much more active there and you can make requests too~)
> 
> (All characters belong to Cybird, this is for entertainment only)


End file.
